


group project

by orphan_account



Category: The Centricide (Webseries)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M, also authright dad is bad, and i feel bad, i hope i wrote it well., im proud, no beta we die like men, they have a sleepover, they haven't been friends in years, theyre kids who have to work on a project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:29:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26738887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: read the tags pls, that's what's up
Relationships: Implied Left Unity
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	group project

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liek??? a bit dif then usual

"waLTER!" 

"alEXSANDR!" 

"WALTER!"

ALEXANDR!" 

they were in another shouting match. no doubt some bullshit that they thought was a righteous argument, nico thought, then they took a sip of their monster. (it was purple.) "boys!" their teacher yelled, snapping both of them away from their shouting match. he went by jreg with most of the students, and he could have only been a few years older then all of them. maybe 5 or 6.

they both snapped their heads over to him, glaring, rage boiling over from each other, it seemed to be trapped in the small underfunded classroom.

"i leave for three minutes to talk to someone in the hall," he pointed at daniel stirner, who looked angry at him too, "and you get in a shouting match? what could have possibly escalated that quickly? and jack?"

"hmm?" he said, not looking up from his iphone 11, legs spread wide, sliding down the chair that was connected to his desk.

"why do you have your phone out?" he sounded so tired, he didn't really get paid enough to deal with these kids.

"oh yeah," he didn't look up at the teacher and slipped it into his pocket, nico was pretty sure he wasn't ashamed, just following orders. nico hated following orders.

"you two?" 

"yes?" the two of them responded in unison.

"what were you two yelling about?" he sighed.

the pair of boys looked away nervously. commie started, "uhm, uhm... we were... arguing about... things... related to if hawaiian pizza was acceptable..." he made a squeaky noise, like a chew toy, of sheer embarrassment, and walters face was red as could be.

"why?" nico felt bad for him. he was some guy in his mid twenties and he had to deal with a bunch assholes. nico dully noted that they probably weren't helpful. 

"i've got strong opinions on pineapple being allowed on pizza." he murmured quietly. 

"okay, y'know what? ignoring that, sit down daniel, and you two too. oh god, what was i talking about?" 

"a project!" max lee shouted smiling at the man, looking eager to appease him.

several kids groaned. "ah yes yes yes," he pointed at the board, "projects, we're working in groups, this class doesn't get to choose their partners... for obvious reasons, sorry." he apologized half-heartedly. "what the project you ask?" he grabbed his guitar and grinned awkwardly, "we'll get to it after i assign you groups!" he said off key, strumming the guitar with it.

there was a little pause after that.

"ok, none of you are excited by that yet, i'll wear you down." he shrugged. "anyways, here's the groups, lawrence white, jacob christian, patrici- patty holland, samanatha engels, you four work together, than max lee, r.c, noah packer, and hank hall."

"the way i see it there is no difference between me working with them and not working with them." hank shrugged.

"there is though, it's part of your grade." he squinted at him, his face rearranged into a confused expression. "ok, and last but not least, walter meyer, alexsandr smirnov, jack carter, and nicolas kra-oh, uh, krav-chen-ko, ok yeah, kravchenko."

nicolas shot up, slamming their hands on the desk, spilling the monster on their desk onto the floor which they ignored wholeheartedly, "i am not working with them, they're fucking physcos!" 

"nicolas!" he chided. 

"they're crazy! i hate them!" they whined.

"yeah, they're crazy," jack added, "they never let me do what i want, walter and alex are control-freaks."

"i'm talking about you too!" nicolas yelled. 

some other class members looked rather apprehensive about the grouping too. "don't let them work together." lawrence muttered.

"hmm? why? is there something i don't know about you four? nobody mentioned anything." he said nervously.

"we... how do you say this... are not on great terms..." alexsandr spoke deliberately, glancing at the other three, he sat straight up in his seat. he looked like an uptight prick.

"what?" 

"they suck." walter cut in in glaring. 

"oh dear, does... does anyone else wanna switch?" he glanced around the class. no one said anything.

"damnit!" nicolas whined.

"nicolas!" jreg barked. "well, let's carry on then."

...

"hey! nick! alex! walter!" jack yelled as they left the school, he jogged over to them. he grabbed their shoulders pulling alex much father down, and barely grabbing nick and walter. "y'all need a drive to my place?" 

"what?" the three of them squawked in unison. 

"we're working over at my house, i decided just now, come on, let's go, lawr and my friends are waiting!"

"i have to talk to my dad." walter said with wide eyes. he looked very confused.

"ah c'mon, your dad loves me!" jack whined.

"no he doesn't! he's called you the f slur to your face!" nicolas cut in, walter's dad was a fucking bigot abuser, they hated him.

"yeah, my dad hates you, he doesn't mind your parents, but he hated you." walter said sharply, nodding to agree with nick. 

"still, we've got a project, commie, you in?" he grinned at the taller man.

"don't call me commie, i think thats racist, and my parents will be fine with it, sure." he shrugged.

"eyy! that's two!-" 

"i never said yes!" walter elbowed him.

"ow! fuck!" jack ignored him otherwise, choosing to address nick instead, "two! nick! come on! for old times sake!" 

"fuck, if my mom says no, you're driving me home cause i'm gonna miss my bus for this."

"deal!" jack grinned brightly, he dragged them to a minivan, where lawrence white was sitting in the front, tapping his fingers on the wheel. 

"lawr-bawr," jack started. lawrence snorted. "i need you to take a few people home with us." he beamed.

"who?" lawrence rolled his eyes at his friend.

he gestured to nick, alex, and walter, who looked comedically annoyed with specifically jack. 

"sure, get in the back three seats, please." lawrence pointed at the back, and the door slid open, revealing two kids, micheal and otto, or maybe just 'hop'. 

"hey! hop, move your ass," lawrence waved his hand at the boy. jack got into the front seat, and immediately turned around in his seat. 

hop rolled his eyes, and begrudgingly got out of the car, and pulled back the seat, revealing three spaces for nicolas, walter, and alexsandr. nico made a mental note not to fuck with him, he looked horrifying.

"not middle seat!" alex made a quick point as he scooted into the car. walter shoved nico in after the tallest boy.

"you dick!" nico cried out indignantly, flipping off the smug boy who was slipping into the seat next to him.

"fuck you! i'm clearly better than you!" he said, the words where harsh, and he at least partially meant them, but the grin on his face would suggest otherwise.

"you're shorter than me!" nico jabbed back, also grinning now. 

"i'm still growing!" walter whined childishly. nico supposed that they were still children but... only barely.

"yeah, sure. you're sixteen going on seventeen, and five, nine, you're never changing loser!" they stuck their tongue out at him, and he responded likewise.

"how i missed this!" jack looked over at lawrence, his words dripping with sarcasm. 

"sorry i'm not like, six foot! or even however the fuck tall commie is! sorry i don't bang my head into door frames all the time, that fucking sucks!" he pointed out taking a page from jacks book, his voice full of sarcasm too.

"shut the fuck up." hop groaned, squeezing his eyes shut, and holding his head.

"sorry i can't reach things!" alex responded bluntly in his not uniteligible, but definitely there accent. they all tended to ignore criticism when together. 

"fuck! i gotta call my mom!" nico suddenly cried out, shooting straight up, which caught the attention of walter, who flinched a bit. they glanced over at him and mouthed a little sorry, and pulled their flip-phone from their pocket. lawrence and jack seemed to be having their own little conversation up front but other than that it was quiet. 

the phone rung, and nicolas quietly swung their head back and forth, dancing awkwardly to the ringtone. that carried on for a moment until their mother picked up, "hola mamá... oh, yo me preguntaba, el gato quería llevarme a su casa para un proyecto... pueden llevarme, sí... ¿de verdad?! gracias, mamá. ¿quién va a estar ahí? ah, te acuerdas de walter y alex, ¿no? solíamos estar todo el tiempo... sí, les diré... ¿me recoges bien?... ¿sí?... te quiero, mamá. bye!" the phone beeped and they smiled lopsidedly.

"she says i can go, she also says she misses seeing all of you." next to them, alex was on his phone, tapping away, presumably texting his parents. 

"oh, she was very nice." alex mentioned, "ah yes, my мама, says i can go." 

"i liked your mom." walter hummed quietly.

"score, that's two, now number three! the hardest of all! the stupid fucker who raised walter! called me the f-slur one time to my face," jack said with little tact to lawrence, hop, and micheal, who looked all looked a little concerned, but lawrence kept his eyes on the road as he was driving. 

"don't call him that," walter muttered. 

"what? you want me to be less polite about it because i could insult him all fuckin' day."

"yeah that's barely the tip of the iceberg, he was the worst. we were like nine or somethin!" nico pointed out. 

"yes, seems like a very accurate description to me." alex shrugged, turning his phone off and putting it in his coat pocket. 

"fuck you guys." walter flipped them off, he dialed his fathers number on his broken phone screen. it was almost as bad as nico's own.

it rung for a few moments, then finally he picked up. "hallo papa. es ist walter." a little grumble from the other end of the line. the three in the back seat seemed to be holding their breath. "ich muss zum wagenheberhaus gehen." it exploded. he pulled the phone away from his ear, his face became soft, apologetic and childlike. "tut mir leid papa, i-... sorry. er kann mich dorthin fahren. bist du damit einverstanden? entschuldigung... es tut mir leid, dass du mich abholen kannst? ich." it seemed to calm back down again. "ich bin- danke dir, papa, tut mir leid. tschüss, ich liebe dich." the phone beeped without any response. 

"tut mir leid. uh. sorry. i can go i think." he said a little unceremoniously. 

it wasn't like the fact that walter had a shitty father was unbeknownst to people. hop had been on the soccer team with walter. micheal and lawrence went to the games with him. alex, nico, and jack had grown up with him. people saw the way that he yelled when walter fucked up. well, fucked up was subjective, most of the time it was minor things, or even things he didn't do. people stepped in sometimes, but, it never stopped. 

"why'd he yell? you didn't say anything weird." hop grumbled despite knowing. 

"i said i need, i don't need to go to jack's house, i wanted to go to jack's house, there's a difference, it was a stupid mistake." walter shrugged, his voice back to normal, mostly.

"ok." hop seemed mostly used to it. they were all pretty used to those 'stupid mistakes.' 

"do you still have monster at your house?" nico unbuckled their seatbelt, to slide in between hop and micheal, sitting in a crunched up criss-cross applesauce. 

"yeah, my mom still puts them on the list. she misses you guys a fuck-ton, maybe more than me." he grinned. that was a dark fucking joke. it got ignored.

"misses seeing you guys in your fort in the woods?" lawrence cut in, grinning a bit.

"wait, the fuck?" nico glared

"how does he know that?" walter squinted at the boy driving the car. 

"jack?" alex cried out angrily. 

lawrence let out a little giggle, grinning at jack. "no, fuck you! you said you shouldn't mention that! you asshole!"

"why the fuck does he know about that?" 

"i- fuck you, i told him, i was feeling very... nostalgic, and i was very high, and i- i may have told him about... our little camp thing." 

"damnit man! that's super fucking embarrassing," alex whined. 

"hell yeah it is... ancom." micheal grinned a little at them, clearly politely joking with them.

"no! jack! you motherfucker! nobody was supposed to say! we said we were never talking about that!" nicolas whined.

walter's face was bright red.

"don't worry, we call jack over there ancap all the time." lawrence grinned.

jack covered his face and groaned. "fuck you guys, i wish i had never told you that!" 

"stop smoking, than it wouldn't have happened." hop spoke bluntly.

"i will smoke if i want too, fuck you!" he flipped him off.

"shut up, we're here. get out of my car, you crazy person." lawrence elbowed the man, smiling, "go have fun... ancap." 

jack hit him with his backpack as he exited. 

...

"hey, you guys hungry?" jack looked up at them, stopping the constant clacking from his keyboard. 

"what'cha'ya got?" nicolas looked up. they were already finishing their fourth monster of the day, and alexandr wasn't sure they had eaten anything else.

"dunno, you wanna go check it out? either of you wanna eat?" jack grinned at them. 

"i'm fine." walter didn't look up from his chrome book. 

"uh, sure, let's see what you have." alex nodded politely. 

nico checked their phone to look at the time, "oh yo, i my mom's picking me up in ten." 

"let's get snacks then!" jack slammed his computer shut and shoved nico out of the room, leaving walter and alexsandr to follow.

"you sure you're not hungry?" alex elbowed walter gently. "didn't eat very much during lunch."

"i don't need you to protect me, what are you doing watching me eat?" walter said sharply, glaring at him.

"we sit very close to each other, couldn't help but notice. sorry." alex apologized mildly.

"it's whatever." walter brushed it off awkwardly. 

there was little pause, they didn't really talk these days except to argue. they weren't quite friends anymore. 

"..."

"...uh, you remember any russian? or chinese? you always used to ask. did any of it stick?" alex asked half-heartedly. 

"heh, not really, i do remember a little bit though. i haven't really had to use it. i guess there is that one russian kid that i talk to." walter smiled a little, but it wasn't the most genuine. 

"shit, uh marx? he's pretty wacky honestly. i didn't quite realize he knew russian, never heard him speak any." he shrugged. together they both were very awkward. it had been years. 

"he knows german too." walter nodded.

"ah, uh, у тебя всё хорошо?" he smiled gently. 

"shit, uh, у меня всё хорошо, ты?" walter stuttered through his words, but they were otherwise good. 

"хорошо!" he grinned at the man brightly.

"мы сейчас занимаемся русским?" nico turned back, smiling a bit.

"ah, да! хорошо!" he clapped a little, his smile somehow getting bigger.

"damn, you are going to be so sad that i retained none of that." jack giggled a bit.

"что? нет!!" he whined. 

"yeah sorry, i remember zero!" he called as he walked into the huge pantry. "yo, we got olives!" 

"what? ew!" nico rolled his eyes. 

"ick." walter grumbled, "olives are gross." he winced.

"what? i like olives!" alex complained.

"yeah, olives are gross commie, y'all want hot cheetos?" his head popped out of the door, and he stuck his tongue out at the taller boy, who returned the favor. 

"yeah! you get me!" they grinned, then frowned after alex shoved them gently.

"no, that's disgusting, they're so bad! ew! ew!" he made a face at them as they shoved him back, then they kept pushing each other back and forth for a moment, grinning at each other a bit. 

"i agree. that shits gross." walter stuck his tongue out in disgust.

"nah, we're eating hot cheetos, you ever even had them?" his sunglasses fell down a bit, making his eyes visible.

walter glanced away, then look back, "no, but they smell gross." walter curled his lip at the bag, staring it down. 

"consume!" he grabbed walter, who in turn grabbed alex, who grabbed nico by their skinny little wrist. he dragged them to his living room and threw himself into the couch and tore open the bag, grinning. "you guys wanna watch anything?"

"cartoons!" alex suggested, smiling.

"yeah!" nico nodded as they took a handful of cheetos, one hand full of cheetos the other shoving them into their mouth. how were they so scrawny? it was impressive, alex noted.

jack grabbed the remote, and turned on the tv to cartoon network. they watched silently for a little while, walter occasionally eating one, very carefully.

"these are shitty cartoons bro." nicolas hummed between mouthfuls of hot cheetos. 

"yeah these suck." walter grumbled. 

"i'm sorry, i can not control the quality of these cartoons." 

"should be sorry." walter stuck his tongue out at jack, who did the same, then went to touch their tongues together.

"ah! fuck! i'm being attacked!" walter swatted at him. 

"that's what you get, loser!" jack grinned, flipping him off.

they went silent again. did they even have anything in common anymore? maybe? it seemed like nothing had changed, they just got taller and... sadder maybe. but there was lingering figure of awkwardness? betrayal? maybe. alex felt bad still. 

thirty minutes in and nico looked confused and concerned at their phone. they put it up to their ear. "ma? where are you?... what? you-... i'll figure it out, love you ma. it's alright. love you!" 

"uhh... my ma can't pick me up. and you know, i live kinda far away..." nico grinned awkwardly at jack. 

"...you wanna stay over?" he offered.

"if you and your ma is okay with it." nico grinned a little.

jack snorted. "you know she doesn't give one single shit. i'm cool with it if you are." 

walter glanced away. "shit." he whispered.

"what's up?" jack and nico said in unison. 

"shit, i need to go home with you, fuck me! ah damnit." he muttered.

"daddy's not picking you up?" jack said blandly.

"take a guess." he said bitterly, "i hoped nico's ma would just be willing to take me." 

"sleepover!" 

"what?" the three of them said in unison.

"sleepover! you wanna ask your parents, commie?" he grinned.

"what?" the oldest boy squinted at him.

"wow, you three get stupider or what? sleepover, do i have to spell it out?" jack groaned.

"why are you so excited about this?" walter rolled his eyes. 

"it's something to do, lawrence, micheal, and hop all do shit on fridays, like family dinner," he snorted, there was a little giggle from walter too. "and then they've got practice, and they're three of the only people i like to hang out with. so this is a good time filler." he explained idly.

"wow." commie muttered. "sure i'll ask my parents, whatever." 

"what's for dinner?" nico asked, smiling a bit, "my ma likes the idea by the way."

"my father said deal with it. i am. very effectively in fact." walter said a bit smugly.

"oh shit, dinner, our maid is usually here, but she gets fridays off. i don't know, we'll figure it out." jack cringed.

"oh! can i cook? we could go to the grocery store! i like making dinner." commie looked up from his phone.

"i don't care, are you good at it?" jack raised his eyebrows. 

"let's go and find out!" he said standing up from his spot on the white couch, smudged with a few red orange stains now. 

"where the fuck are we going?" nico called.

"grocery store! we've got money right?" he grinned turning around, walking into the doorframe and started grumbling.

"can you guys drive?" jack looked around.

"what? ha! no." nico laughed a bit.

"walt?" 

"...no." he murmured.

"wait? com, can you?"

"we can walk!" he carefully didn't answer. he grabbed his back pack and poured it out onto jacks long dining room table. 

"oh, ill bring one!" nico grinned, emptying it unceremoniously. 

"great! let's go!"

...

"why the fuck is this shit so expensive?" alex whispered sharply.

"it's in a nice neighborhood," jack said while he waved and smiled at some older lady.

"fuck that." nico grumbled quietly. 

"shut up, you're lowering the value just by being here." jack said snatching the heavy cream from alex and tossing it into the cart. 

"god i hope!" nicolas practically yelled.

"i hate all of you, i'm throwing you in the streets, g'bye!" he walked away, and into the isle with hair products, where walter followed awkwardly, not wanting to leave him alone. 

"oh my god walt, i just had the best idea." he gently grabbed the younger boy.

"woah, what?" he felt a bit disoriented, he was kinda thrown around.

"look, hair dye! nico!" walter flinched, and jack give him a little, sorry.

"what's up?" nico slid into the isle sweetly.

"hairrrr dyeeeee!!!" he grinned. nico seemed to understand. 

"yeahhhhh!!!!!" 

"what? why- how- uh? aaaaaa." walter stuttered.

"hair dye man! we gotta get it! i want black hair man." they grinned. "commie! come here!" 

the oldest came riding in on the shopping cart. "word?"

"we're dying our hair!" they grinned and turned to walter. "come on! dye your hair with us- nevermind," nico paused remembering some circumstances.

"help us dye our hair!! you too commie! let me pick the color!" jack grinned, quickly finding a solution. 

"only condition. not crazy and not red." 

"damnit." he grumbled. "how you feeling about blonde?"

...

after dinner, they decided that was proper time to dye their hair.

"come on!" nico grinned, walking backwards through the hallway, holding the boxes of hair dye.

"yo tankie, will you do mine? then walt can do jack's! that makes sense, right?" they squinted at nothing in particular for a moment. 

"will blonde even work on my hair?"

"i can hope!" they grinned.

walter hopped up and sat on the sink counter. "throw me that box, would ya?" he murmured. 

jack tossed him the box underhand. he quietly read the box. nico threw themselves into the tub and made grabby hands at alex, who sat on the edge of the tub, and then gently fell in. 

walter ripped open the box, "you sure you wanna use black? that's kinda weird." walter pointed out. 

"sounds fun!" he smiled simply.

"i guess, c'mere." jack slotted himself in between his legs, and turned back to look at walter, "thanks walt." he smiled gently. 

"whatever." walter grumbled. but he was smiling too. just a bit.

...

when they were down, they all were crammed in jack's big ass tub. it had gone silent again. 

"hey walt?" nico whispered.

"yeah?" he barely glanced over at the other kid.

"do you hate me cause i'm gay? is that why we don't talk anymore?" they said quietly.

fuck. that was... out of the blue. none of them could've expected it. nico barely expected it. 

"what?" walter managed to get out after a moment deliberating.

"you heard me." they grumbled. 

how the fuck do you respond to that?

"no, i- ugh, i mean, it was little weird to figure out this guy-" he started nervously.

"not a guy." they murmured even quieter than before.

"...person. i had known my whole life was gay, but that's not why we stopped talking. i thought you hated my dad? that's why we stopped talking." he squinted at them confusedly. 

"wha-what?" they looked just as confused.

"huh?" that was enough to get alex to chime in.

"you guys stopped talking to me cause of like... my dad and shit right?" he glanced away.

"no?" they tilted their head.

"why would we do that?" alex looked at the three of them. the tub suddenly felt much smaller than before.

"huh?" jack finally spoke.

"i thought we all stopped hanging out cause we went to different schools? you know, jack with his rich private school, you and your school over in your neighborhood with nico, and my school alone." alex laughed a little, it didn't sound comfortable though.

"i stopped talking because you never responded to me. i just assumed you hated me. it kinda coincided with the time i figured out i was gay..." nico winced.

"my dad overheard you saying that when you came to our house and took my phone away. and then yknow, i couldn't hang out with you guys. then... yknow we moved to germany for two years. i just- i don't know." he shrughed.

"i'm sorry man. i like... didn't know. i jsut assumed you hated me. you being homophobic wasn't a huge stretch to me..." they grumbled.

"apologizing then calling him a homophobe, classy," jack joked gently.

"i mean his dad is super homophobic! sometimes it carries ov- i- nevermind, i'm really sorry walt. and i'm sorry to you two too, i kinda just assumed you hated me." they finally actually apologized.

a little pause.

"heh, who took our nicolas? apologizing? what's next? you're going to start giving each of us little cards that say woops sorry, thought you were homophobic?" he joked politely. he meant it to be nice. none of them laughed.

"i'm sorry too, kinda a shitty judge of your guys character to assume you'd hate me cause of my dad." walter bit his tongue.

"hey! they got walt too!" alex laughed awkwardly. no one else joined.

"damn yeah, not reaching out was probably stupid as fuck. sorry." jack grinned, he wasn't very sentimental sounding, but he sounded nice.

"ah! i'm the only real one here! oh... probably time for me to apologize. sorry, guess i could've been a little more thoughtful. i kinda ditched you all for people around my neighborhood, or whatever." alex finally muttered. 

they finally laughed, and alex felt good. maybe they did have something in common. maybe they could be friends again.

**Author's Note:**

> if u want to know about any names jus ask! please comment lol :))


End file.
